Whew, it was a chilly weekend on the East Coast, wasn’t it? Thank goodness for that gust of hot air from the direction of Cincinnati.

That fiery blast of sound and fury, which ended up signifying nothing, came courtesy of the authorities in charge of the basketball programs at Xavier and Cincinnati. Oh, did they ever talk a big game in the wake of that bloody, grotesque brawl in the final seconds of the so-called “Crosstown Shootout” on Saturday afternoon, the one still being constantly replayed on every sports channel and website around.

There was a lot of barking from the people in charge, at least as much as the woofing coming from the players before, during and after the fight.

But when time came to truly hold those responsible for the whole mess accountable – and that includes the players, coaches and administrators – there was no bite. Wrist slaps for the players. Nothing for either coaches or their staffs, or for the game officials. Empty words for everybody else.

Nothing that even remotely matched the blistering, lofty, idealistic reactions spewed from the folks at Xavier and Cincinnati that day – reactions that, even at the time, came off as much more hysterical and cravenly pandering than they probably intended.

Hence, yet another failure in college athletics leadership. It’s the ongoing theme for 2011.

Had any of these people done more to prevent the incident at the end of the game, their words after the fact might have meant more. But they didn’t, and the lukewarm punishments only make those words mean less.

If they’re that hell-bent on laying down draconian punishments for the players, teaching them a lesson and sending a message to the world about what these schools stand for, we wouldn’t be seeing any of these players back next month, much less next week.

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You don’t hoot and holler about ripping players’ jerseys off their backs, and about making them prove they deserve to get them back, and about the storied history of higher education that those kids are “lucky” to have access to – all of which Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin said, and was roundly praised for doing so – and then send away the two most egregious offenders, Yancy Gates and Cheikh Mbodj, for just six games.

Of course, if you are the head coach, you don’t lose control in the post-game press conference in a manner that makes one guess where Gates, Mdobj and their teammates learned their own lessons about poise, composure and maturity under pressure.

The adults are supposed to set the tone. It appears, in hindsight, that they did – a little more adult interaction and supervision, and the younger adults might never have escalated things that badly. It was just easier, and lazier, to hang the players out to dry.

Yet the ease and laziness was then taken to another level when they were given their “punishments” and told to take the rest of the holiday season off.

No one connected to either program or administration did much, if anything, to cool the pre-game trash-talking; no one did much to keep it in check during the game. And when fists started flying directly in front of the Cincinnati bench, there were hardly any suits in view trying to regain control amidst the uniforms and warm-ups for both teams.

No, the grown-ups decided to flex only when time had expired and the court was cleared.

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Oh, and a few grown-ups could have been of use when it was time for the Xavier players, particularly star (and instigator) Tu Holloway, to talk publicly. Holloway deserves all the vitriol he’s getting for slinging all the talk about “gangsters” and “thugs” afterward – but who at Xavier thought it was a good idea to trot him and the players out to reporters in the first place?

What part of the educational mission did that fulfill?

Cronin, meanwhile, during his rant, seemed to never consider shouldering any responsibility for anything that happened on the court, as leadership tends to demand. Instead, he left the damning impression that he was helpless, out of ideas and borderline intimidated, and that these kids are simply out of control.

Then, with a chance to add teeth to his words … he nodded as all those players’ presence was assured for the second Big East game, the first week of January. Oh, except that he told Sporting News’ Mike DeCourcy, that he still held out the option to not let them back after the suspensions. Sure. That’s what Cronin said last time, only a lot louder and on camera.

Of course, the head coaches only have the leeway to do what the athletic directors, presidents and other school, conference and NCAA officials allow them to. There was lots of talk from all those factions about what a black eye this was to the sport … but in the end, who really is going to be held accountable? Better yet, who has enough standing, clarity of thought and sense of perspective to hold anybody accountable?

So much could have been prevented. So much still can be acted on. Sit players for a month, or two, or the entire season. Suspend and fine coaches. Punish referees. Put real consequences in play.

Or … do nothing, and speak with a calm, measured voice that things got way out of hand, but that steps are being taken to do better from then on. But don’t write checks with your mouth one day, then quietly ball them up and toss them the next. Real leaders don’t do that.